M.Arch Design Studio 4
Jan-Dec 2025
with Francesca Mercurio

*Berries & Cream awarded Quadrangle Architects Tenth Anniversary Scholarship 

How do we achieve density without creating repetitious, uninspired architecture? How do we continue to produce vibrancy within the gestalt of Little Portugal? Simple – by fighting repetition, privileging colour and utilizing the single loaded corridor as collective space. Berries & Cream is a building comprised of spatially and formally diverse elements that come together to create a tasty, collective spirit. The edifice wraps Dundas and Ossington’s northwest corner with sometimes varying volumetric forms and materiality that responds to the dynamism of a mixed-use, densifying neighbourhood. A conventional L-shape volume that has been tilted, punctured, pulled to create an unusually fun form.

Inside the courtyard, pleated façade is clad by a grid of green balconies serving as the heart and soul of the project – the collective veranda. The veranda, with its comfortable 2.5 m width, becomes more than just a means of egress, its where residents convene, chit chat, maybe grow a tomato or two. The balconies are vertically connected by two core structures, semitransparent signals of circulation and communion. The pleats themselves are fenestrated by a series of window arrays rooted in whimsey but also relating to the domestic programming within – combating the scourge of repetition that plagues the language of densification in this city.

Berries & Cream is a love-letter to the human desire for delight, familiarity and colour. This building is enunciated vibrancy in an often grey city.